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Latest News in India: Mamata Forms Committee to Review New Criminal Laws; Governor Warns of ‘Banana Republic’West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee constituted a seven-member team to review the three new criminal laws: Bharatiya Nyaya Sanita, 2023, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023.
The team shall scan the laws and recommend amendments within three months of the notification which was issued on July 16. The seven members are Justice, Retd. Ashim Kumar Roy, Retired Judge, Calcutta High Court & Lokayukta, West Bengal; Malay Ghatak, MIC, Law Department, Judicial Department and Labour Department; Chandrima Bhattacharyya, MOS, IC, Finance Department, Health & Family Welfare Department and Ld. Advocate General, West Bengal; Sanjay Basu, Ld. Sr. Standing Counsel for Bengal, Supreme Court; Director General & Inspector General of Police, West Bengal; and Commissioner of Police, Kolkata.
Banerjee, who has been opposing BNS, had earlier written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to defer the implementation of the new laws. Noting that several MPs were suspended the day the laws were passed, the TMC chief said in the letter that they should be reviewed before implementation. Last week, the chief minister had said the Bengal assembly would bring a resolution opposing the laws.
The fact that Banerjee is willing to take the fight forward was indicated in the formation of the committee itself, said political experts.
The notification said that the state government had written to the Government of India to defer the operation of the said criminal Laws, adding it did not consider the issues raised by the state.
“In view of the importance and wide-ranging implications of the three laws, the State Government is of the opinion that it is necessary to constitute a Committee which shall examine the following:- a) Suggest state-specific amendments as required of the three Criminal Laws; b) Whether the nomenclatures of the Criminal Laws are required or be changed; c) Any other matter that the Committee may consider necessary.”
The committee will empower itself to engage some academic gurus, senior advocates, research assistants, and other experts within the legal fraternity to offer opinions on the issue. It shall also have the power to conduct public consultation and opinion-seeking exercises from the public.
According to lawyers, the government can put the same to the state assembly after the committee gives its suggestions. If passed, they have to be sent to the President via the Governor.
Governor Reacts: The move has, however, not gone down well with West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose, who has called upon Banerjee to furnish an immediate report on the objectives of the committee. The governor specifically wants to know whether or not the West Bengal government responded to the proposal on time after being asked for by the Centre. “West Bengal cannot be a state within a state or be turned into a banana republic,” he warned.
